Automatic Data Processing, Inc. engages in the provision of cloud-based human capital management (HCM) solutions worldwide. It operates in two segments, Employer Services and Professional Employer Organization (PEO). The Employer Services segment offers strategic, cloud-based platforms, and human resources (HR) outsourcing solutions. This segment's offerings include RUN Powered by ADP, a software platform for small business payroll, HR management, and tax compliance administration; ADP Workforce Now, a HCM solution used across mid-sized and large businesses to manage employees; and ADP Vantage HCM, a solution for HR management, benefits administration, payroll services, time and attendance management, and talent management. The PEO Services segment provides HR and employment administration outsourcing solutions under ADP TotalSource name to businesses through a co-employment model. The segment also provides employee benefits, protection and compliance, talent engagement, expertise, comprehensive outsourcing, and recruitment process outsourcing services. The company was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Roseland, New Jersey.

Компания Automatic Data Processing, Inc. демонстрирует смешанные результаты по фундаментальным метрикам. Показатель P/E находится ниже медианы отрасли, что может свидетельствовать о недооцененности, однако его динамика указывает на увеличение, что является негативным фактором. По метрикам эффективности, таким как ROE и ROA, компания значительно превосходит отралевые показатели, что говорит о высокой рентабельности. Тем не менее, долговая нагрузка по отношению к собственному капиталу выше медианы, что создает риски в условиях меняющейся экономической среды. Дивидендная доходность отсутствует, что может настораживать инвесторов, ориентированных на доходность. В то же время показатели выручки и чистой прибыли устойчиво растут, что подтверждает стабильность бизнеса. Важно также отметить, что коэффициенты ликвидности находятся ниже медианы, что может вызвать дополнительные вопросы по финансовой устойчивости. В целом, несмотря на некоторые сильные стороны, есть и несколько слабых метрик, которые могут негативно повлиять на оценочную стоимость компании в краткосрочной перспективе.

Automatic Data Processing, Inc.

Workday, Inc. WDAY has partnered with Lyra Health, the leader in workforce mental health solutions, to enhance its employee wellness platform. This initiative will integrate Lyra Health’s mental health services into Workday Wellness, helping employees to get personalized care recommendations and access mental health support more easily.
Workday Wellness is an AI-powered platform that helps employees easily access workplace benefits and wellness resources. The platform also provides employers with real-time data on how benefits are used. This helps organizations improve wellness programs and employee engagement.
The collaboration aims to improve how employee benefits are managed. Workday Wellness uses advanced APIs to automate benefit plan setup, making it faster to launch programs such as Employee Assistance Programs, which help companies to reduce the complexity of introducing new mental health benefits.
How Are Competitors Advancing?
Workday faces competition from Oracle Corporation ORCL and Automatic Data Processing, Inc. ADP. Oracle is adding AI-powered tools and automation to its Fusion Cloud HCM platform to help HR teams work more efficiently. It also improves talent management, recruiting and employee experience. Oracle HCM is working with e& to standardize HR processes and automate tasks for its global workforce.
ADP is adding AI-powered tools to its HCM platforms to automate HR tasks, improve talent management and provide better workforce insights for global organizations. ADP partnered with Pine Services Group to expand its AI-enabled HCM and workforce management solutions across ERP platforms.
Workday’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates
Workday shares have lost 41.3% over the past year compared with the industry’s decline of 1.8%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, Workday trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 13.28, below the industry average of 28.21.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Earnings estimates for 2027 have remained static at $10.54 over the past 60 days, while the same for 2028 has declined 1.1% to $12.32.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Workday currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Can Workday's Wellness Tie-Up With Lyra Health Aid the Stock?

Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the ProShares UltraPro QQQ (Symbol: TQQQ) where we have detected an approximate $298.8 million dollar outflow -- that's a 1.1% decrease week over week (from 554,700,000 to 548,650,000). Among the largest underlying components of TQQQ, in trading today Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Symbol: VRTX) is down about 0.7%, Western Digital Corp (Symbol: WDC) is up about 1.1%, and Automatic Data Processing Inc. (Symbol: ADP) is lower by about 2.4%. For a complete list of holdings, visit the TQQQ Holdings page » The chart below shows the one year price performance of TQQQ, versus its 200 day moving average:
Looking at the chart above, TQQQ's low point in its 52 week range is $17.50 per share, with $60.685 as the 52 week high point — that compares with a last trade of $49.39. Comparing the most recent share price to the 200 day moving average can also be a useful technical analysis technique -- learn more about the 200 day moving average ».
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Exchange traded funds (ETFs) trade just like stocks, but instead of ''shares'' investors are actually buying and selling ''units''. These ''units'' can be traded back and forth just like stocks, but can also be created or destroyed to accommodate investor demand. Each week we monitor the week-over-week change in shares outstanding data, to keep a lookout for those ETFs experiencing notable inflows (many new units created) or outflows (many old units destroyed). Creation of new units will mean the underlying holdings of the ETF need to be purchased, while destruction of units involves selling underlying holdings, so large flows can also impact the individual components held within ETFs.
Also see:
Cheap Healthcare Stocks
ESGR Stock Predictions
Funds Holding MVST
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Noteworthy ETF Outflows: TQQQ, VRTX, WDC, ADP

Key Points
Most great dividend payers are in businesses that generate reliable recurring income.
Start with the most reliable dividend stocks with higher yields, and then work your way toward income names that are capable of more growth.
While past performance is no guarantee of future results, it's certainly a glimpse of what's likely.
Investing $1,000 usually isn't a stressful endeavor simply because (for most households anyway) it's not a life-changing amount of money; a luxury handbag or a nice weekend getaway can easily cost just as much.
Figuring out how to put $50,000 to work generating passive income, however, is a different story. This is a much more serious amount of money for most people, and must be handled in a way that makes the most effective use of it while minimizing risk.
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To this end, here's a rundown of five dividend stocks to consider if you're looking to invest a bigger sum of money to produce reliable recurring income. In the same order you'll likely want to add them to your portfolio...
1. Verizon
If you're looking for some capital appreciation even from your dividend-paying holdings, Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) offers some, but not nearly enough to view it as even a modest growth holding. It's first and foremost (and almost entirely) an income stock. But it plays this role extremely well, offering newcomers a chance to plug into a forward-looking yield of 5.6%, which is based on a dividend that's now been raised for 19 consecutive years.
The reason these payments are apt to endure indefinitely isn't tough to figure out. Most people living in the U.S. market it serves are practically addicted to their mobile phones, and have no intention of giving them up. Harmony Healthcare IT reports the average American spends more than five hours every day looking at their phone screen, for perspective.
2. Realty Income
Technically speaking, it's not a stock ... at least not in the sense that most investors understand publicly traded shares of conventional corporations. Although it's bought and sold via an exchange like any other ticker, Realty Income (NYSE: O) is a real estate investment trust, or REIT, for short. That just means it owns a bunch of revenue-generating real estate. As long as the majority of its profits are passed along to shareholders in the form of dividends, it's not first taxed at the corporate level. That ultimately means its investors put more money in their pockets.
That's not the chief reason that income-seeking investors might want to own this or any other REIT though. For that matter, neither is its respectable forward-looking yield of 4.9%. Rather, the most compelling aspect of owning a stake in Realty Income is that it makes its dividend payments every month rather than every quarter, at the same cadence people incur bills. The fact that it's also raised its annualized per-share payout every year for the past 31 years, of course, only bolsters the bullish argument.
3. ADP
With just a passing look, Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ: ADP) -- you'll likely know the payroll processor by its more familiar name, "ADP" -- doesn't look like a heroic income-generating stock. Its dividend yield of 3.2% is OK, but hardly thrilling.
Now take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Over the course of the past 10 years this reliably profitable company's quarterly per-share dividend payment has more than doubled, from $0.53 in early 2016 to $1.70 per share now, extending a long-established pace of dividend growth. It's just the nature of its business model paired with the additions of related offerings like personnel time and attendance solutions, benefits management, employee recruitment, and other HR functions.
4. Brookfield Asset Management
Just as the name suggests, Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE: BAM) is an investment management outfit. It oversees a handful of publicly traded partnerships that bear the same Brookfield name, in fact, scraping off a small fee from these entities' total values every calendar quarter.
The company is compellingly different than most other mutual fund and exchange-traded fund (ETF) managers though. Rather than establishing investment pools that will buy anything and everything, Brookfield is hyper-focused on proven growth industries like renewable energy, artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, water infrastructure, logistics, power distribution, and more. Moreover, most of its holdings are privately owned organizations rather than publicly traded entities, giving investors a chance to own stakes in attractive businesses that aren't investable in a conventional brokerage account.
Perhaps more important, while this ticker's forward-looking yield of 4.3% is solid to be sure, the company's long-term annualized growth target of between 15% and 20% per year is completely achievable, given the nature of its underlying businesses. Indeed, this year's per-share payment is 15% better than last year's, which was 15% better than 2023's.
5. JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF
Lastly, if you already own the four dividend stocks above (or enough names like them with similar yields and risk profiles), consider adding the JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF (NYSEMKT: JEPI) to your portfolio while its trailing 30-day dividend yield stands at just under 7%.
That big number comes with an equally big footnote. That is, this yield isn't consistent. Sometimes it's less. Other times it's more. Over the course of the past 12 months its dividend yield has averaged over 8%, but at times it can be measurably less than its current 7%.
Given the sheer size of its monthly (yes, monthly) payouts most of the time though, this uncertainty may be worth it to investors who are also already collecting more predictable passive income from other holdings.
The JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF is able to generate this sort of income by "writing" covered call options. That just means it sells call options on stocks it also owns, essentially using these stock positions as collateral for these option trades that might eventually need to be undone one way or another. Whether or not it gets to keep these shares or is forced to sell them doesn't change the fact, however, that writing -- or selling -- covered call options repeatedly generates real cash flow.
The only arguable catch here is that JEPI's price tends to underperform its benchmark S&P 500 essentially because it's converting what could have been long-term capital gains into short-term income. In other words, you'll achieve about the same overall net return with this JPMorgan ETF that you would with an S&P 500 index fund. You'll just be achieving most of it in the form of dividend income rather than through price appreciation.
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James Brumley has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Brookfield Asset Management and Realty Income. The Motley Fool recommends Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

$50,000 Portfolio Idea: 5 Stocks That Could Generate Meaningful Passive Income

Key Points
D-Wave lost ground last month as investors moved out of growth-dependent tech stocks.
The stock also saw sell-offs in conjunction with its latest earnings report and new inflation data.
Shares have bounced around in March's trading in response to the war with Iran and new jobs reports.
D-Wave Quantum (NYSE: QBTS) stock got hit with a significant valuation retracement in February, falling 11.5% in the month. Tech stocks generally had a rough go of things over the stretch, as investors took more cautious positioning on AI companies and other highly growth-dependent plays and digested a hotter-than-expected inflation report at the end of the month. In addition to these dynamics, the quantum-computing stock also saw a significant pullback following its fourth-quarter report.
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D-Wave stock had a rocky end to February
D-Wave published its fourth-quarter results before the market opened on Feb. 26. The quantum specialist recorded a non-GAAP (adjusted) loss of $0.09 per share on sales of $2.8 million in the period. For comparison, the average analyst estimate had targeted an adjusted loss of $0.06 per share on sales of roughly $3.7 million.
While revenue still increased roughly 19% year over year, growth came in significantly lower than anticipated. Quarterly sales and earnings misses aren't a huge bearish indicator for D-Wave's long-term indicator at this relatively early stage in the game, but investors were looking for stronger expansion momentum to help support the company's hugely growth-dependent valuation. On the other hand, revenue for the full-year period was still up 179% on an annual basis to reach $24.6 million.
In addition to the Q4 sales and earnings misses, the company also said that it ended last quarter with bookings of $13.4 million -- down 27% year over year. The company's sales and bookings can be expected to be somewhat lumpy in conjunction with release timing for the latest versions of its quantum machines, but the bookings decline has likely played a role in dampening bullish sentiment surrounding the stock.
A day after the company's Q4 report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics published its produce-price-index (PPI) report for January. The report showed inflation that was significantly higher than expected, with the index's seasonally adjusted increase of 0.8% coming in far ahead of economists' forecast for inflation of 0.3%. Higher inflation could cause the Federal Reserve to hold off on interest rate cuts, which would be an unfavorable development for growth stocks.
D-Wave stock has been treading water this month
D-Wave stock has been bouncing between sell-offs and gains early in March's trading. The company's share price declined at the beginning of the week in response to the U.S. and Israel's conflict with Iran, but shares rebounded following a report from ADP showing that 63,000 private-sector jobs were added last month when only 48,000 additions were called for by the prevailing estimate.
On the other hand, the stock is seeing a modest retreat following the February jobs report published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics this morning. The report showed that the U.S. lost 92,000 non-farm jobs last month -- ahead of economists' estimate for a loss of 50,000 jobs. The company's share price is roughly flat in March so far.
On the heels of recent trading, D-Wave has a market capitalization of approximately $6.9 billion and is valued at approximately 157 times expected forward sales. The stock is down roughly 58% from its high, but it's still a high-risk investment.
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Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Why D-Wave Quantum Stock Plummeted 11.5% Last Month and Has Traded Flat in March

Key Points
After reinstating its guidance for fiscal 2026 in January, Aehr announced significant new contract wins last month.
Sales for the company's wafer-testing and burn-in solutions are accelerating.
Aehr announced another AI-related contract win earlier this month.
Aehr Test Systems (NASDAQ: AEHR) stock managed to post explosive gains in February despite a bearish backdrop for tech stocks. The company's share price rocketed 46% higher in the month even as the S&P 500 fell 0.9% and the Nasdaq Composite declined 3.4%.
While the broader market saw a pullback in response to tech-sector valuation concerns and macroeconomic news, Aehr stock moved higher thanks to the announcements of new contract wins. The stock is now up 100.5% year to date.
Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue »
Aehr stock surged in response to major contract wins
Aehr stock got a big boost after the company published a press release on Feb. 11 announcing that it had secured a significant contract for testing and burn-in systems used for artificial intelligence (AI) chips. The company said that the order for its Sonoma systems came from its lead production customer and would be used for the purchaser's next-generation application specific integrated circuits (ASICs).
Aehr followed the news up with an additional press release on Feb. 26 stating that it had secured a $14 million order from the same customer for its FOX systems, WaferPak contractors, and Automated WaferPak Auto Aligners products for semiconductors used in AI data centers.
The two announcements signal that the company is seeing demand for its AI-related products accelerate and support the thesis that the company could meet or exceed the guidance for the 2026 fiscal year that it reinstated in January. After previously suspending its forecasts in response to tariffs, Aehr has said that it expects sales to come in between $25 million and $30 million this fiscal year -- which ends May 30.
Management also said that customer forecasts and trends indicated that it could record bookings between $60 million and $80 million in this half of the fiscal year. With new orders for its AI-related systems coming in, the company's growth outlook has gotten a lot stronger recently.
Aehr has kept rallying in March
Aehr announced on March 3 that it had received a new order from its top photonics customer for wafer-level test and burn-in solutions for optical architecture used in AI processors. The stock has also gotten support from new jobs data published by ADP showing that the U.S. private sector added 68,000 jobs in February -- topping the consensus estimate's call for 48,000 jobs added in the month.
As of this writing, Aehr is up 8.2% this month and is now valued at approximately 26 times this year's expected sales. That's a highly growth-dependent valuation for a company that's had an uneven performance history over the last several years, but it looks like the company's growth is poised to accelerate rapidly thanks to AI-driven demand.
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Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Why Aehr Test Systems Stock Skyrocketed 46% Last Month and Has Kept Soaring in March

Wednesday, March 4th, 2026
After threatening to reverse course and trade in the red shortly after the market opened this morning, market indexes were on an even keel through most of this Hump Day session. The Dow gathered +238 points today, +0.49%, while the S&P 500 was up +52 points, +0.78%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq, which had been saddled lately with doubts about AI infrastructure spending, outperformed the field: +290 points, +1.29%, which the small-cap Russell 2000 gained +30 points, +1.19%.
Clearly the worry over the U.S./Israel attack on Iran over the weekend is not sustaining, for whatever reason. We’re seeing some moving pieces today with a vote on a War Powers Resolution, but even that appears murky from this vista. Basically, the market is betting near-term that we don’t have another quagmire on our hands, like we did when the U.S. invaded Iraq 23 years ago and stayed there the better part of two decades.
We saw better-than-expected private-sector jobs numbers from ADP ADP this morning — +63K versus expectations for +48K — but the downward revision for the prior month shows a trailing 4-month average of new private-sector job gains of just +24K. Compare this with the already paltry +30K per month brought in during the previous 4 months. The good news is the labor market is not falling off a cliff. The bad news is there is no other good news.
ISM Services productivity saw a better-than-expected gain this morning: +56.1% for February easily surpassed the +53.5% analysts had been looking for. That said, final S&P Services PMI came in at +51.7 — still above the crucial 50 threshold, but 1200 basis points lower month over month, and below projections. So consider this a wash, ultimately.
Earnings at a Glance After the Close: AVGO, AEO
Semiconductor major Broadcom AVGO beat earnings estimates by 2 cents per share in its fiscal Q1 report released after today’s close to $205 per share, up appreciably from the $1.60 reported in the year-ago quarter on AI infrastructure demand. Revenues of $19.31 billion narrowly edged the $19.29 billion in the Zacks consensus. Shares are roughly flat on the news, however, and still roughly -8% year to date — even as the company updated its dividend and ushers in a new program for $10 billion in share repurchasing.
American Eagle Outfitters AEO, a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stock at the time of its Q4 earnings report, outpaced estimates strongly on its bottom line, with earnings of 84 cents per share easily surpassed the 71 cents expected, and the 54 cents per share reported in the year-ago quarter. Revenues of $1.76 billion were ahead of the $1.73 billion anticipated, with same-store sales up +8% year over year. Yet the stock can’t sustain momentum after an initial boost, and is trading down another -2% in after hours.
Q4 earnings season marches on beginning Thursday morning, with Kroger KR and Burlington Stores BURL reporting ahead of tomorrow’s opening bell and Costco COST, The Gap GAP and Marvell Technologies MRVL taking the honors after the close.
Questions or comments about this article and/or author? Click here>>
Free Report: Profiting from the 2nd Wave of AI Explosion
The next phase of the AI explosion is poised to create significant wealth for investors, especially those who get in early. It will add literally trillion of dollars to the economy and revolutionize nearly every part of our lives.
Investors who bought shares like Nvidia at the right time have had a shot at huge gains.
But the rocket ride in the "first wave" of AI stocks may soon come to an end. The sharp upward trajectory of these stocks will begin to level off, leaving exponential growth to a new wave of cutting-edge companies.
Zacks' AI Boom 2.0: The Second Wave report reveals 4 under-the-radar companies that may soon be shining stars of AI’s next leap forward.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Markets Close Higher as Iran Fears Abate

Pre-market indexes are pushing higher this morning, bolstered somewhat by a not-disappointing private-sector employment report and fighting heroically off -2% levels during yesterday’s trading session. Currently, the Dow and the Nasdaq are both up +120 points while the S&P 500 and small-cap Russell 2000 are both up +20.
Yesterday morning, war fears gripped the market — at least until fears were eased about bringing oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz now that the U.S. and Israel have attacked Iran. The Strait brings roughly 20 million barrels of oil PER DAY, so you can imagine how disruptive a closure of this important thoroughfare would be to the global energy market, which is still majorly dependent on oil.
ADP Brings +63K Private-Sector Jobs, Better than Expected
Automatic Data Processing ADP, the payroll giant which reports on private-sector employment the first Wednesday of (almost) every month, posted +63K new private-sector jobs having been filled in February, the highest level since July of last year’s +104K. The revision to January was cut in half — from +22K originally reported to +11K today.
Goods-producing jobs in the private sector reached a respectable +16K for the month — in fact, Construction jobs alone accounted for +19K (augmented by another drop in Manufacturing employment) — while Services made up +47K. Current estimates for Friday’s non-farm payroll report from the U.S. government are currently +50K.
Small companies (sub-50 employees) made up the lion’s share of new jobs created last month, +60K, while large firms (500+ employees) rebounded from a negative figure the previous month to +10K this time around. Medium-sized businesses actually lost -7K for the month. And as ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson pointed out this morning, jobs at smaller companies tend to pay less than larger firms.
This plays out in the industry breakdown, as well, as Education/Healthcare jobs led the way once again at +58K, followed by Construction at +19K and Information Services +11K. This last, by the way, hampers the narrative that AI has invaded the domestic workforce in any meaningful way; if it did, we’d for sure see that show up in Info Systems hires. Professional/Business Services last month actually shed -30K positions, another sign the labor force has been tacking cheaper.
Ms Richardson called this “a very inert labor market” based on this data, “benefiting small firms,” which offer lower paying jobs than, say, large business consulting companies. This can be seen in ADP’s unique metric where Job Stayers stood to gain +4.5% on their income, whereas Job Changers came in at +6.3% — the slimmest gap on record. It also helps explain why this “low hire/low fire” environment is keeping wages fairly stagnant, even as unemployment does not appear to be a major near-term concern.
Earnings Update This Hump Day
Ahead of today’s open, Abercrombie & Fitch ANF beat earnings estimates by +3.37% to $3.68 per share, but shares are falling -4% in early trading based on slowing revenue growth concerns. This is advancing the apparel retailer’s move into the red, now down -25% year to date.
Meanwhile, Bath & Body Works BBWI shares are rising +4% on Q4 outperformance on both top and bottom lines, adding to the company’s +11.7% gains from the start of the year. Earnings of $2.05 per share amounted to an impressive +15.8% earnings beat.
After today’s close, semiconductor major Broadcom AVGO and American Eagle Outfitters AEO will be putting out quarterly results, to name just a couple. Broadcom, which has no earnings misses on its chart going back 12 years (though it often doesn’t beat by double-digits) is expected to demonstrate earnings growth of +27% year over year and +29% on revenues. Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy)-rated AEO is expected to fetch +31.5% earnings growth on +8% on revenues.
Free Report: Profiting from the 2nd Wave of AI Explosion
The next phase of the AI explosion is poised to create significant wealth for investors, especially those who get in early. It will add literally trillion of dollars to the economy and revolutionize nearly every part of our lives.
Investors who bought shares like Nvidia at the right time have had a shot at huge gains.
But the rocket ride in the "first wave" of AI stocks may soon come to an end. The sharp upward trajectory of these stocks will begin to level off, leaving exponential growth to a new wave of cutting-edge companies.
Zacks' AI Boom 2.0: The Second Wave report reveals 4 under-the-radar companies that may soon be shining stars of AI’s next leap forward.
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Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

ADP Reports Highest New Job Postings Since Last July

Wednesday, March 4th, 2026
Pre-market indexes are pushing higher this morning, bolstered somewhat by a not-disappointing private-sector employment report and fighting heroically off -2% levels during yesterday’s trading session. Currently, the Dow and the Nasdaq are both up +120 points while the S&P 500 and small-cap Russell 2000 are both up +20.
Yesterday morning, war fears gripped the market — at least until fears were eased about bringing oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz now that the U.S. and Israel have attacked Iran. The Strait brings roughly 20 million barrels of oil PER DAY, so you can imagine how disruptive a closure of this important thoroughfare would be to the global energy market, which is still majorly dependent on oil.
ADP Brings +63K Private-Sector Jobs, Better than Expected
Automatic Data Processing ADP, the payroll giant which reports on private-sector employment the first Wednesday of (almost) every month, posted +63K new private-sector jobs having been filled in February, the highest level since July of last year’s +104K. The revision to January was cut in half — from +22K originally reported to +11K today.
Goods-producing jobs in the private sector reached a respectable +16K for the month — in fact, Construction jobs alone accounted for +19K (augmented by another drop in Manufacturing employment) — while Services made up +47K. Current estimates for Friday’s non-farm payroll report from the U.S. government are currently +50K.
Small companies (sub-50 employees) made up the lion’s share of new jobs created last month, +60K, while large firms (500+ employees) rebounded from a negative figure the previous month to +10K this time around. Medium-sized businesses actually lost -7K for the month. And as ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson pointed out this morning, jobs at smaller companies tend to pay less than larger firms.
This plays out in the industry breakdown, as well, as Education/Healthcare jobs led the way once again at +58K, followed by Construction at +19K and Information Services +11K. This last, by the way, hampers the narrative that AI has invaded the domestic workforce in any meaningful way; if it did, we’d for sure see that show up in Info Systems hires. Professional/Business Services last month actually shed -30K positions, another sign the labor force has been tacking cheaper.
Ms Richardson called this “a very inert labor market” based on this data, “benefiting small firms,” which offer lower paying jobs than, say, large business consulting companies. This can be seen in ADP’s unique metric where Job Stayers stood to gain +4.5% on their income, whereas Job Changers came in at +6.3% — the slimmest gap on record. It also helps explain why this “low hire/low fire” environment is keeping wages fairly stagnant, even as unemployment does not appear to be a major near-term concern.
Earnings Update This Hump Day
Ahead of today’s open, Abercrombie & Fitch ANF beat earnings estimates by +3.37% to $3.68 per share, but shares are falling -4% in early trading based on slowing revenue growth concerns. This is advancing the apparel retailer’s move into the red, now down -25% year to date. For more on ANF’s earnings, click here.
Meanwhile, Bath & Body Works BBWI shares are rising +4% on Q4 outperformance on both top and bottom lines, adding to the company’s +11.7% gains from the start of the year. Earnings of $2.05 per share amounted to an impressive +15.8% earnings beat. For more on BBWI’s earnings, click here.
After today’s close, semiconductor major Broadcom AVGO and American Eagle Outfitters AEO will be putting out quarterly results, to name just a couple. Broadcom, which has no earnings misses on its chart going back 12 years (though it often doesn’t beat by double-digits) is expected to demonstrate earnings growth of +27% year over year and +29% on revenues. Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy)-rated AEO is expected to fetch +31.5% earnings growth on +8% on revenues.
Questions or comments about this article and/or author? Click here>>
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But the rocket ride in the "first wave" of AI stocks may soon come to an end. The sharp upward trajectory of these stocks will begin to level off, leaving exponential growth to a new wave of cutting-edge companies.
Zacks' AI Boom 2.0: The Second Wave report reveals 4 under-the-radar companies that may soon be shining stars of AI’s next leap forward.
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Abercrombie & Fitch Company (ANF) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Pre-Markets Boosted by Benign ADP Jobs Report

Key Points
Goods that people purchase over and over again ultimately support reliable dividends.
Artificial intelligence isn’t always the threat it seems like it could be to some companies. In fact, sometimes it’s an opportunity.
Eventually, dividend growth becomes far more meaningful than a stock’s dividend yield at the time you buy it.
Why do you invest? Most people know that the answer should be something like "to make the most risk-adjusted constructive use of my money." If we're being honest, though, many of us find picking stocks and monitoring our portfolios at least a little bit entertaining. That's OK.
As a reminder to income-seeking investors, however, the very best dividend stocks are usually relatively boring names that just keep on cranking out cash payments regardless of the economic backdrop.
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Here's a look at four boring dividend stocks that make for fantastic long-term income holdings.
1. Procter & Gamble
It doesn't get much more mundane than dishwashing detergent, diapers, toothpaste, and laundry supplies. There's a clear upside to being in these businesses, though. These are products that people buy over and over again. The key to sustained success in these markets is often just achieving enough scale and market dominance to keep your per-unit production cost low and your pricing power high.
Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) has done exactly that. Its Tide laundry detergent makes up roughly 40% of the U.S. market, while Pampers diapers' control of the domestic market is about half. In fact, most of the products in its portfolio regularly lead their respective categories.
Perhaps the unsung hero in P&G's enduring success, however, is its sheer size and what that means in terms of marketing its goods. Not only does the company have a great deal of leverage it can use to ensure its retail partners prominently feature its products, it's simply got a bigger checkbook to fund its promotional efforts. The company spent a whopping $9.2 billion on advertising alone last year. Its competitors just can't match that.
Perhaps more important to income-minded investors, P&G has now raised its annualized dividend payment for 69 consecutive years. You'd be plugging into this stock's track record while the forward-looking yield stands at 2.6%.
2. Brookfield Asset Management
There's nothing exciting about the investment management business, either. Fund managers pick stocks, and charge a modest quarterly percentage based on the amount of money they're tending. Surprisingly enough, performance doesn't mean much here. Maybe that's because most of these managers ultimately underperform the overall market, while the ones that do beat it typically don't do so for very long.
Still, it's an ideal business model for supporting reliable, recurring dividend payments.
While Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE: BAM) isn't really structured any differently than any other name in the investment management business, it's a compelling standout in one way. It's only focused on industries with above-average long-term growth potential. Brookfield is the name behind Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners, and Brookfield Business Partners. That puts it in businesses like water management, AI data centers, solar energy production, logistics, hydroelectric power, and several other increasingly important industries.
It's also just good at what it does -- picking the right businesses in the first place and then managing them well. Based on its historical track record (this year's quarterly per-share payout is up 15% from 2025's payment, for perspective), this company's long-term revenue and dividend growth target of between 15% and 20% seems very achievable.
3. Automatic Data Processing
Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ: ADP) is the payroll processor you may know better as ADP (yawn!). One out of every six U.S. workers receive their paychecks from this service provider.
That seems like it could be a potential problem. Given all that artificial intelligence can do these days, maybe it's only a matter of time before AI negates the need for this company's service.
Don't count Automatic Data Processing out just yet, however, for a handful of reasons.
Chief among these reasons is the fact that ADP is so much more than just a payroll processor. Employee time and attendance solutions, benefits management, recruitment, compliance (when and where it's needed), and more are all in its wheelhouse. These are all nuanced and organization-specific HR functions that can't be easily outsourced to an automated platform. Payroll taxes are also a matter that most institutions aren't quite ready to let AI wholly handle either, since fixing any errors could be a considerable headache.
For what it's worth, Automatic Data Processing is embracing artificial intelligence in areas and ways where it makes sense to do so, allowing the company to offer more efficient and effective tools to its 1.1 million customers. Its 51-year streak of annual dividend increases isn't in jeopardy -- at least, not yet.
This stock's yielding 3.2%, by the way.
4. Coca-Cola
How would you like to step into a boring stock that's upped its per-share payout for an incredible 64 years? Beverage giant Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) has done it, with no end to the track record in sight.
The secret to its long-term dependability isn't really a secret. Not only is its namesake cola one of the world's best-known and most beloved beverages, The Coca-Cola Company is also parent to a slew of other popular brands, including Gold Peak tea, Minute Maid juices, Glaceau water, Costa Coffee, and Powerade sports drink. It's got something to sell consumers despite their ever-changing preferences.
Even more compelling to income-minded investors is the underlying business model.
Contrary to a common assumption, Coca-Cola does very little bottling of its own products anymore. Unlike rival PepsiCo, it punts most of this work to third-party bottlers, who also handle distribution duties. While it seemingly shouldn't matter who does this work, this model takes a great deal of the cost-based risk off Coca-Cola's books, allowing it to focus on what it does best. That's marketing its brands so well that they become lifestyle choices.
Newcomers will be stepping into a forward-looking yield of 2.6%, which isn't huge. However, it's based on a dividend that's grown nearly 90% over the course of just the past 10 years. It will grow into a powerhouse income-producing holding soon enough.
Should you buy stock in Procter & Gamble right now?
Before you buy stock in Procter & Gamble, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Procter & Gamble wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
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James Brumley has positions in Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Brookfield Asset Management. The Motley Fool recommends Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, Brookfield Renewable, and Brookfield Renewable Partners. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

4 Boring But Beautiful Dividend Stocks Perfect for Income-Focused Portfolios

Key Points
Concerns about a sluggish labor market and the disruption from artificial intelligence keep weighing on ADP shares.
Despite the uncertainty, ADP continues to experience steady revenue, earnings, and dividend growth.
At current prices, shares trade at a valuation that could prove to be a steal.
Over the past year, a double whammy of headwinds has hit Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ: ADP), better known as ADP. First, concerns about the sluggish employment market have continued to pressure the payroll processor and HR software provider's shares.
More recently, ADP has sold off due to fears that generative artificial intelligence (AI) will hurt the business. Much as with enterprise software stocks, investors are worried that mass adoption of AI will bode poorly for ADP's business model.
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Add in additional concerns, and it's easy to see why shares are down by more than 35% from their 52-week high.
Yet while there may be substance to all this fear and uncertainty, it's possible that investors have overreacted, creating an interesting buying opportunity with this blue chip dividend stock.
From concern to overreaction
It's not out of line for ADP investors to worry about sluggish growth and/or the impact of mass AI adoption on this company's fiscal performance going forward. Well over 60% of ADP's revenue still comes from its bread-and-butter payroll processing business, so nationwide employee numbers do directly affect how well this segment performs.
These same risks could arguably affect ADP's cloud-based human resources management and professional employer organization services business as well. However, these market fears are in stark contrast to forecasts.
Last July, when ADP first released guidance for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, its forecast of 5% to 6% revenue growth fell slightly short of expectations. However, management recently upped its full-year forecast and now anticipates sales growth to come in near the top end of its initial forecast.
Analysts have, in turn, upped their own forecasts, anticipating revenue growth of 6.02% this fiscal year. As for earnings growth, management believes adjusted EPS will rise 8% to 10% this year, in large part due to rising margins with its non-payroll business lines. Sell-side forecasts call for earnings growth of around 9.5%, in line with management's outlook.
The long-term silver lining with ADP
Looking ahead to the next fiscal year, analyst forecasts call for growth in line with this year's projections. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2027, analysts anticipate 5.7% sales growth and 9% earnings growth. Alongside factors like improved margins in ADP's non-payroll business, the company's $6 billion share repurchase plan stands to provide a further earnings growth boost.
The prospect of steady growth bodes well for ADP investors in two ways. First, consistent growth suggests ADP will stay one of the Dividend Kings, which are dividend stocks that have at least 50 consecutive years of dividend growth; ADP has increased its dividend 51 years in a row. The latest dividend increase, 10.3%, was last November.
Over the past decade, ADP's dividend growth has averaged around 12.2%. Currently, the stock has a forward dividend yield of 3.3%. Alongside this steady return, shares could experience even greater price appreciation once these worries subside.
Following the pullback, ADP trades for less than 20 times estimated FY2026 earnings. Historically, the stock has traded for around 25 times forward earnings. Add it up, and it's easy to see how long-term investors could profit from ADP's short-term volatility.
Should you buy stock in Automatic Data Processing right now?
Before you buy stock in Automatic Data Processing, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Automatic Data Processing wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $445,995!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,198,823!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 927% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 194% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
*Stock Advisor returns as of February 26, 2026.
Thomas Niel has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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